hatred, or even love. It was new, unreadable, and when it came to Draco Malfoy, that could be very
dangerous. The pale boy was leading him through the Hogwart halls as quickly as he could while at the same
time trying to keep silent and thus avoid being seen by the caretaker Filch or his cat. Harry could have
brought along his invisibility cloak, but he’d never actually told Draco about that, and for some reason he
wanted to keep it a secret. He didn’t really know why, maybe it was because he knew so little about his
blonde haired lover, and that was one of his petty little ways of evening the score.
It was roughly 2 am in Hogwarts, when Harry had awoken to the sound of someone entering the confining
curtains that surrounded his bed. Draco was sitting there, a smirk on his face, and how he’d managed to get
past the painting of the fat lady Harry had no idea. He decided it was better not to ask. Not that he could
have if he wanted, Draco had quickly put a finger to his lips to silenced him, and grabbing his wrist,
preceded to pull him through the school to their current location, where he showed no sign of stopping.
Draco led him down the long flight of stairs that only led to two places- the Potions room, and the exit to
where they took Care and Management of Magical Creatures. Harry silently prayed they weren’t turning
into the room where Snape taught, but wouldn’t be surprised as that still seemed to be Draco’s class, even
though he no longer spent the time making Harry’s life hell. To his relieve, they swept right by the wooden
door that led to potions and through the gate that led to the outside, where the grass shimmered with a coat
of morning dew that Harry new he shouldn’t be seeing for at least 5 hours.
Now that they were in the open, Harry tried to speak, figuring they’d be safe from an eaves dropping ears,
but Draco stopped his words dead with a quick kiss that held no affection, but was simply a way to keep him
shut up for a few minutes. Harry decided to settle for looking around to see where they were going instead
of talking, although he secretly wondered what Draco would do to him if he started to yell.
That settlement, however, began to sit uneasily with him as they approached the edge of the field and neared
the border that led to the Forbidden Forest, a place where in Harry’s six and a half years at Hogwarts he’d
had absolutely no good experiences. And they didn’t stop at the border, they kept going, and although
Draco’s eyes were darting nervously around for the uncountable amount of danger’s that lie within the
woods he wasn’t deterred from his obvious path, and if anything he pulled Harry over rocks and around
trees with even more urgency then before.
They went on for nearly half an hour before Harry began to get annoyed... Draco seemed to be going in no
distinct path and there were no recognizable land marks or stars he was following. For all he knew they were
just walking for the sake of walking, and although there were few things Harry enjoyed then trips with
Draco, through a dangerous forest in the middle of the night where has was not allowed to speak was NOT
high on the list of good situations.
Eventually they came to some kind of clearing, and Draco stopped dragging him along, though Harry had no
idea if this was just to rest or they’d finally reached there goal. He noticed his companion studying the moon,
and with Draco’s innate ability to tell time by it with a glance, Harry hoped they were finally getting to
something. He was tired, he was wet, and he was getting cold. “Draco...” he prompted, hoping to get
whatever was going to roll, rolling.
“Ssh!” Draco moved to within an inch of Harry, and suddenly Harry realized what that look in Draco’s eyes
was. Anticipation... and mischivessnous. Draco’s eyes rarely showed anything, and never before this level of
eagerness, so Harry looked with some interest as Draco pointed to a massive oak tree that rested in the
center of the clearing. “Look.”
Harry was blinded for a moment as the clearing filled with light, and he felt his heart jump into his throat.
They’d been caught! But it wasn’t flashlights or wan lights illuminating the forest, it was the tree. As if on
cue, each leaf had suddenly lit up with an eery blue edges around the corners of every leave, casting beams
of light all over the clearing in sparkling beams. Gasping in amazement, Harry half rose to better take in the
beauty of the tree, then looked back at Draco in awe.
The blonde boy, for his credit, was looking only at Harry, with a rarely seen smile on his lips. “I thought
you’d like this,” he said, gesturing towards the tree. And Harry did, entirely unbothered by Draco’s
disinterest in the shimmering phenomenon. Draco was looking at him, instead, as if he were the miracle.
And that was all that mattered, really.